Stray Hearts, Bruised Hands
by EternallyElvish
Summary: After Rory dies and is erased from existence, the TARDIS dematerializes with Amy inside it, landing her in Georgia in 2010 and unable to remember anything about her travels with the Doctor. Rick Grimes & co find her on their way to the CDC,and Amy soon realizes that she has to stick with the group if she wants to survive and get to the bottom of how she got there. Gradual Amy/Daryl
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Readers! So this is my first serial crossover story and I'm quite excited about it. I'm a huge Doctor Who fan as well as a Walking Dead fan and the idea of combining the two fandoms intrigued me, so this is the result! The story is AU, picking up mid 1x05 in TWD and post 5x09 in DW. I've already got the first few chapters panned out and will hopefully be updating once a week! Please drop me a review, I would love to hear from you! Feedback is my inspiration and the more inspired I am, the more chapters I'll be able to write! So leave your thoughts in the pretty box below ;)**

**If you've reviewed my Bethyl one-shot and are on the lookout for the next one I promised, It's called "Eight Days" and will be posted as soon as possible!**

**A humungous thank you to my lovely and talented beta, NeonRainfall. Without her encouragement the story never would have gotten started and I never would've been motivated enough to share it with you! ****If you enjoy DW and TWD you should go check out her story "Still Running". It's also Daryl/Amy and is one of my favourites! So give it a read and leave her some love as well!**

* * *

_ONE_

_Fuck._ Where was she?

Better yet, what was making her head pound?

Ugh, she prayed Mels hadn't just gone off with some guy leaving her to drunkenly wander. It wouldn't be the first time, but damn, this was worse than usual.

She blinked slowly, adjusting to the light which seemed to pool itself in order to beam directly into her eyes. The universe really seemed to be against her today.

Speaking of, what day was it?

Sitting up, she scoped out where she'd landed herself.

Trees. Tons of large trees that were full in bloom, so she guessed it was the summertime. How was it summer all of a sudden? Hadn't it just been autumn? God her head hurt, none of this was making sense. Pushing herself up, it finally dawned on her how bad all of this was. She was utterly lost and confused to top it off. Which way was she supposed to go to get home?

A deep gurgling sound to her left distracted her from calculating the proper direction. It was a man, or what was left of one. The skin on the side of his face was in fact no longer on his face. It hung off grotesquely to reveal a skeletal jaw that was snapping violently at her. The eyes were mooned over and feral looking as the arms mindlessly reached out trying to grab her.

Forgetting everything about direction, she let out a horrible scream of panic and ran. Stumbling slightly over tree roots as she went, she refused to look back and pushed her legs painfully on into the unknown wood.

* * *

The group was really having some bad luck, Rick thought with a grimace.

Half of the reason the CDC had seemed like such a good plan was the hope of a cure for Jim. Yet even Jim had given up, begging them seconds ago to just leave him on the side of the road to his inevitable fate as one of those things.

They had already lost Andrea's sister and Carol's husband and lord only knew what had become of the Morales family on the road by themselves. Spirit was low and for once he wasn't sure if these people should have bothered listening to him. Would it have been easier to just put Jim out of his misery back at the quarry like Daryl had suggested?

Rick rubbed furiously at his forehead, the only sign that he was quite frustrated with their situation. He would not be weak in front of Carl, not when his son had such blinding faith in him despite it being an impossible circumstance.

He motioned for everyone to get back into their vehicles when a piercing shriek rang out from behind, a shriek definitely too high-pitched to be from Jim.

A woman was running wildly toward them with a moaning walker right on her heels.

Being the closest one to the approaching pair, Rick turn and raised his gun.

"Duck!" he shouted to the woman.

Her eyes widened but instead she pitched herself forwards in a dive to the ground. Rick stared at her bewildered and he was sure he heard someone behind him snort before he took the shot. The walker dropped, but the woman was still frozen on the ground with a look of absolute terror on her face.

He nodded to Shane, and they approached her together as they once might have on a case. As they got close, he noticed for the first time how young she was. She couldn't have been more than 25, but maybe she was even younger than that. Deep red hair was plastered to the side of her face from the fall, and her large brown eyes made her look like a frightened baby animal.

What surprised him however was her attire: Black jeans that tightly clung to what looked like quite long legs, a loose red blouse, and a tan leather jacket. She was dressed for the bar or a club instead of the woods.

He was just about to ask her what she was doing when Shane beat him to it. "Why're you alone out here? It's not smart," his partner bit out.

Short and to the point. Rick would've been a bit gentler.

The woman however was still staring at them stunned as she looked between them and the dead body lying next to her. "What-" she swallowed thickly as if trying not to vomit, "What the _hell_ was that?"

Rick's eyebrows rose. Even more strange than the clearly foreign accent she had was he question. Did she seriously not know?

"And who the hell are you people? Where am I?"

Well damn, she seemed to be quite serious.

"If this is Mels' idea of a joke it's not funny!"

The woman was getting more hysterical, and he exchanged a baffled look with Shane.

"Cause it's bloody ridiculous. You can come out now Mels, scaring the shit out of me in the middle of fuck knows is not on!" she screamed while scanning behind them at the rest of their group as if waiting for a sign that it had been a set up. She sagged even further in on herself when none of them moved.

Rick took a tentative step to her while keeping his hands in front of him for good measure. "My name's Rick Grimes and this here is my partner Shane. We're cops and you're just outside Atlanta. Now what can you tell us about where you came from, do you remember how you got here? Were there others with you?"

She shook her head rapidly while almost muttering to herself, "America? What? I- I don't know. I just don't know." Had something happened to this woman to make her forget where she was? What exactly was in those woods? Rick didn't want to hang around to find out.

He sighed; they were losing daylight and needed to get on the road. "Well our group is going to the CDC. That's the centre for disease control here. We're hoping that they have some answers and maybe a cure. I think we could fit you in on that RV there if you want to come with us?"

Shane sharply turned to glare at Rick. What was he doing? This woman was clearly missing a few screws.

"A cure? Is that what was wrong with that man, he had some illness?" The woman was nodding now as if Rick's plan was making sense.

"Yeah. So if you want we'll get you settled with some ice for your head. That was quite the fall there." Rick smiled gently.

The woman blushed, "Not my most graceful moment. I suppose I don't really have anywhere else to go do I? Well all right, if I won't be a bother." She followed the two men to where the rest of the group curiously waited.

Rick realised for the first time how intimidating they might look when he saw the look of apprehension come across the woman's face as they approached the group. Carl looked round at this new lady from behind Lori, "Is she coming too Dad?" His tone was hopeful. Rick knew he had grown fond Andrea's young sister back at the quarry, perhaps bringing this new woman in would help take Carl's mind off of the loss.

He smiled appreciatively at his son for easing the tension of the new arrival; they had just lost Jim too after all. "Yup, she sure is Carl. She's gonna ride with Dale in the RV. If that's alright with you?" he asked, turning to the older man.

"Sure is fine with me," Dale replied. "Glad to have you on board miss." He tipped his bucket hat, and the woman gave a shy giggle.

Shane was the first to move back to his truck, which seemed to get the others moving as well. "Let's get going, can't be dawdling all day!" Shane yelled over his shoulder.

Rick looked apologetically at the woman for his partner and followed his family back to their own car. Jacqui approached the new member of their group warmly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her into the RV. "Looks like you're riding with us. That's Andrea over there," she said, nodding at the blonde who gave a lip twitch of acknowledgement. She'd barely said a word since they'd buried her sister. "You already know Dale over there and you can call me Jacqui. Now what's your name, honey?"

The woman smiled thankfully at the sincere kindness. "Amelia Pond but most people call me Amy. Actually everyone calls me Amy except for my mum I think," she spouted off nervously.

Andrea let out a strangled sob upon hearing this and ran into the small bathroom of the RV. Amy frowned at the blonde's retreating back and sent a quizzical glance at Jacqui. "What did I say wrong?"

The older woman let out a sigh, "Nothing for you to worry about, honey." She sent Dale a look that Amy couldn't quite understand.

The RV started moving, and Amy could do nothing but sit and wait. The events of the past hour were taking a toll on her.

It was now summer when it should be almost winter. She'd woken in America where there was some illness that made people go round the twist. There were so many questions floating around her head, but the most important one was how any of this had happened. She tried to think of the last thing she could remember.

She was living back home with mum and dad. She had a perfectly simple job as a kiss-a-gram in the village. Mels came over often, and they went to the pub to get happily drunk while checking out what men were available. But there was something else nagging at the back of her mind that she couldn't quite grasp. It didn't much matter though because her eyes were closing from all the mental strain, and sleep blissfully took over.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello Readers! So no reviews yet but there have been several views so please, if you read, leave your thoughts in the box! I know that it's the off season for both shows but I have big plans for where this story is going and I really want to get to share, but feedback is a huge motivator for me to both write and post. **

**In other news, I know I said my next Bethyl would be out last week but it is still in the editing process. I'm hoping to have that out by the end of this week instead so be on the lookout for "Eight Days".**

**Again, a huge thank you to the wonderful NeonRainfall, who has been the most supportive beta and friend through this writing process. Go check out her Amy/Daryl "Still Running" as well!**

**Please note: ****Some of the language in this chapter is particular, please keep in mind that Daryl in southern and therefore his drawl is bound to come out ****;)**

* * *

_TWO_

Amy stared grumpily at the puncture mark on her forearm while walking down the corridor with the group. She didn't know how or why a blood test would be what they had to provide in exchange for sanctuary but the discomfort her arm held now was mocking considering the needle had been so small. They almost hadn't been granted shelter in the CDC at all and now that she was a part of this group, her arm itched terribly along with theirs.

When she'd first opened her eyes after having fallen asleep on the RV, she was sorely disappointed that all the America madness hadn't been just a dream. Now she rather felt like Alice down the rabbit hole. Except in place of a Red Queen, there was a southern policeman named Rick in charge. In place of an army made of cards, there was a surly looking guy with a crossbow and a sneaky Asian man. Lastly and most disconcerting, there was no white rabbit to be chasing to get home. Instead, she had a bunch of un-dead cannibals, that she'd been told to call walkers, which would chase her down should she leave the protection of this group.

On the whole, she felt rather gipped that Lewis Carol had gotten to blissfully trip on acid and see vanishing cats while she was stuck with this unbearable bad luck.

"Try not to use all the hot water."

That got her attention.

The man living there, Jenner or something, was giving them a tour of the quarters available to them. Amy really hadn't been interested. As long as there was a sofa she could stretch out on, she'd be fine. All those overnights at Mels' flat while they were at university had made her immune to the squishiness of sofa sleeping.

But an honest-to-god warm shower?

She almost let out a moan of pleasure at the prospect. She hadn't realised it until now, but she was layered in dirt and grime. Suddenly perking up, she thought that maybe despite the itchy arm, this place wasn't so bad.

* * *

Daryl was pleased with how the CDC was turning out. He'd been burning mad when it appeared that Grimes had led them into a graveyard. Then Jenner didn't have any useful answers, but hell Daryl had a belly full of pasta and a bottle of whiskey all to himself. He was going to get roaring drunk, because for once, he wouldn't have to get his ass up before dawn to hunt for all those ungratefuls.

The kitchen had long since been cleared, and Daryl liked it better that way. China boy had passed out at the table before officer hero had moved him into one of the rooms. The kids, women, and the rest had followed, all claiming to be too tired for anything else. Pussies.

Shit, maybe if he took enough shots he'd even forget about the shit-show the past few days had been with them leaving his brother out there one-handed.

It always came back to Merle. The only person in the world who gave a damn about Daryl Dixon.

But Merle was gone and he took the same damn truck Daryl had been driving too. Always leavin', he was. Prolly for the best. If he'd stayed, Merle woulda killed that damn black idiot for dropping the key and that annoying kid would've lost his cop dad too. No, it was best Merle wasn't with the group, but he hadn't come back for Daryl either. He never did.

Anger flashed through him at this thought and Daryl threw the now empty bottle against the wall, letting it shatter into pieces on the floor.

A startled gasp from behind made him spin around to glare at whoever had intruded on his private moment.

It was the new girl; the one they'd picked up on the road. Aly? No-the old man had called her Amy. She'd hardly said a damn thing, but he knew she hadn't known shit about the walkers. What was she doing sneaking around here in the middle of the night?

She seemed to accept his presence or was just ignoring it. Striding past him, she grabbed a left over bottle of wine and sat herself on top of the counter that he was leaning against. She took a long swig and held it out to him. "Want some?"

When he didn't respond, she pulled her hand back and took another large gulp.

"Great, more for me anyways."

She grinned sardonically at him to which he grunted but made no move to leave. He'd been there first. He reached out to the counter and grabbed another bottle of Jack, and they both drank.

"You know I've always wanted to see America. Thought I'd go somewhere people are always talking 'bout, like Florida. Think I would've liked it."

She was slurring as she spoke which Daryl strained to understand through her accent. A sloppy smirk made it's way onto her face.

"But he'd never take me you know."

She was nodding now as if he knew exactly whatever she was talking about.

"Nope. Little Pond got to wait for years, and that raggedy arse didn't want me. He travelled in space, you know-said we'd go anywhere." Somewhere mid speech big fat tears had started sliding down her face, and she let out a pathetic hiccup.

Daryl stared blankly at her. This was why he never went round with women. He'd seen all sortsa types with Merle and one way or another they were all batshit crazy. There was always something for them to nag about. Especially the hot ones. He had to admit that before she had opened her mouth blubbering all sorts of loony crap, he'd been appreciating the slip of flesh that was showing below her shirt. And them legs. Damn, they were long. Not that he's stared much or nothin'. Jesus, was she still talking?

"-N all them rabbits trying to eat me. But I got you and Glenn so I reckon maybe I'll keep my head a while."

She tilted her head and her wide eyes were glazed over "Did you know you have nice arms crossbow man?" She reached out as if to touch him in her dazed state, and Daryl flinched harshly.

"Don't fuckin' touch me!" he half-yelled, half-hissed at her. "You're out yer damn mind, Red." He stood up as he spoke, and slammed the door behind him, leaving Amy alone in the small kitchen.

She blinked owlishly through her wet lashes at the closed door. Oh why was she stuck here in this impossible situation with people like that angry man? All she'd said was he had nice arms! His arse wasn't bad either from where she was sitting.

She rose from the counter and flopped down at the table, sniffling and defeated.

What she really wanted to know was where the Doctor was. What was he doing? Sure she hadn't seen him since that one trip he gave her after that one alien in the hospital – but wasn't' he supposed to swoop in with his blue policeman's box and save the day when bad stuff like this happened?

She was still mad that he hadn't taken her with him, but she'd forgive him if he came now. They needed him. From what Jenner had said, this illness or whatever it was had to be pretty bad for all of those people to have killed themselves.

Maybe it was just her being in this particular apocalyptic situation that kept him away? He'd already saved her once; perhaps it was as if he'd already fulfilled his quota of time spent saving her. He wasn't gonna come again.

She wiped her tears away bitterly. Well, she wasn't going to wait on him to show up when he fancied it. She was no longer that little girl dreaming of the spaceman in her back garden. She was a perfectly capable woman who just happened to be trapped underground in a foreign place while where she was while the world crumbled. And she was going to survive.

She'd learn how to shoot and stick with this group until everything was fixed.

She didn't need a raggedy man to sweep in and save her. Not anymore.

* * *

**AN: If any of you are confused about why Amy remembers the Doctor existing but clearly doesn't remember Rory and has a much memory of events, as I said in my first AN, this takes place after Rory is killed and absorbed by the crack of time. Series 5 episode 9. So Amy never went to save Van Gough or have her memory of him restored. Instead, due to the interference of the Tardis, Amy completely forgets how the Doctor takes her on as a companion. He gave her one customary trip after the alien in the hospital to explain what he was and why she was better off away from him and then left. So she's got quite a mixed opinion of him after and this and as a result is also quite closer to Mels then she was in her actual life. So keep that in mind, we will be seeing more of these false memories she has in future chapters!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello Readers! **

**Still no reviews. If you read this story, please drop a comment in the box below to let me know what you think. Feedback is my inspiration and it's begun to dwindle where this story is concerned. I already have up through chapter 7 written but I will only continue if interest is expressed. **

**Again, a huge thank you to NeonRainfall, without whom I wouldn't have even thought to share my writing in the first place!**

* * *

**Three**

Amy was tired. So very tired. If she'd ever thought she had been truly exhausted before this point in her life, she'd been wrong. It had been by far the longest, most stressful, insecure, terrifying, and upsetting week of her entire existence.

She thought back to how aggravated and pouty she'd been just a week ago, when those kids had noisily awoken her to a massive hangover in the CDC kitchen. It seemed so petty and so far away – like an entire lifetime had passed and she was a different person now. She thought back on the ritual steak and chips dinners with Mels before they hit the pub on Fridays nights and the afternoons she used to spend ignoring her mum's attempts to set her up on yet another blind date with some loser from the village. In comparison, that felt like two lifetimes ago. It was almost like they were someone else's memories stuck tauntingly inside her head.

Amy didn't quite know who she was anymore. What she thought she knew had slowly crumbed away over the past seven days she'd spent in Georgia, leaving her only with a sense of sadness and hardened acceptance. Realising that her wills to survive were really the only thing that would keep her going against the monsters, Amy lived for the small moments of normalcy that appeared amongst the chaos.

_They'd lost Jacqui first._

She had forfeited her own life by remaining inside the CDC while Jenner had set the air on fire. Andrea and Dale had almost stayed behind too but they had decided otherwise at the last possible second.

Amy felt extremely uneasy after that. Jacqui had been the first person in the group to openly speak to Amy with any sort of kindness, and consequently, Amy had interacted with her the most since. Without her, Amy felt very uncomfortable in the RV while Andrea glared daggers at a morose Dale. When their caravan had stopped for supplies, Amy asked T-Dog if she could ride with him and Glenn in the church van, because she couldn't take the RV anymore. Not that it had mattered however, because they didn't go any further.

_They lost Sophia next._

Physically lost her. A herd came through the highway when they'd stopped for supplies. It was the first time Amy realized just how sheer of a blow humankind had taken. There were men and women and children in that herd. They all had once been somebody to someone. Just like Amy had been back in Scotland, when everything hadn't been so complicated and terrifying. When there hadn't been a mass of rotting bodies starving for her flesh. The group all froze and did the only thing that they could've. They hid.

Amy flattened herself under a car and tried her best to slow her breathing so those things couldn't hear her. Horrified, She watched in slow motion as the little girl accidentally alerted a walker and then took off screaming into the woods. Until the herd passed, they could only wait and stare in shock at the sport where Sophia had just been lying. Rick ran in after the young one then. An hour later, he came back to the road alone. A search party had been formed, and Amy waited with T-Dog and Dale while nervously wondering if any of them would come back at all in their attempts to find the girl.

_Carl was shot._

It was the most unexpected news to come out of the returning members of the group when they came back from the woods. But it was true none the less. Shortly after, crossbow man, who she'd figured out was actually called Daryl, had taken the helm in leading them all to the farm.

Amy no longer felt like an awkward stranger amongst those who had taken her in a week prior. Instead she felt a part of them, united in all of their grief for the people missing from the original picture she of them she had taken in when seeing them for the first time on the side of the road.

Instead, she dodged the questioning looks she received from the farm's owner, Hershel Greene. He had asked for her story on the rare nights the group and his family dined together, but she didn't have one to tell. What was she supposed to say? One moment she was home in Scotland, and the next she wasn't anymore. The end? No she couldn't explain that. So instead, she mumbled something brief about running into this group on the road and pretended not to hear when more prying questions were thrown her way.

T-Dog gave her what used to be Jacqui's tent to sleep in. It had felt wrong at first, but Amy quickly realised she had no other options. She was put on laundry duty with the rest of the women, and they settled into a routine that felt almost normal.

Daryl still went out every day to look for Sophia though. The crossbow man continued to be a mystery to her. She heard tell he had a brother that once was with the group, but she didn't know the full story. She sensed there was something heavy there and decided not to pry.

It also became abundantly clear to her during that time that there was some sort of odd tension between the Grimes couple and that man Shane. She did her best to avoid them altogether, only seeing Lori when she had to while they washed clothes. There had enough problems without some strange saga of family issues thrown in the mix.

She formed a companionship with Sophia's mum, Carol. The woman was a wreck most of the time, but Amy thought that she was awfully strong for not going completely mad. If Amy had ever gone missing at that age, her mum would've gone ballistic. And that was before there were people-eating monsters all over the place.

Carol had told Amy that she found her presence soothing; Amy was the only one who didn't look at her as if she was going to break.

Amy's relationship with Andrea had improved significantly too. The blonde woman apologised for her initial standoffish behaviour towards her. She also became a pioneer for the women to learn how to defend themselves, and Amy was all on-board for that. She spoke in agreement when Andrea had complained to Shane about their lack of weapons. What were they supposed to do if a walker came at them? Ask it if it needed any washing done?

Life seemed to be calming down and slowly a feeling of community began to be established. It became amusing to watch Glenn's embarrassment at the attentions of the eldest Greene daughter. Amy hadn't really spoken to Maggie much herself, but she thought they made a cute couple. Carl was healing nicely as well.

Everything went to hell the minute the group learned that there were walkers in the barn. Shane had blown up at Rick while Hershel threatened to kick them off his land. The sense of false security Amy had been tricking herself into was cruelly ripped away then. She should've known that nothing could remain good any longer. Not while they lived in what the world had become.

* * *

So now she sat on a patch of grass outside their little makeshift campsite, pulling aimlessly at the weeds and willing herself not to just collapse from physical and emotional exhaustion. Hours earlier, Shane's blown fuse had turned into a full on shit-show. The already deceased members of the Greene family had been sentenced to their final deaths. Then little Sophia had stumbled out looking even smaller than Amy remembered her and quite un-dead. Carol had fallen down sobbing as the rest of them looked on. It was the most heart-wrenching thing Amy had ever seen. Rick had been the one to pull the trigger.

In truth Amy had no clue about what was going to happen now. The Greene's were distraught and the group, _her _group, was in pieces.

T-Dog came and sat down next to her. "You should have something to eat, Amy."

She shook her head; eating anything now would just make her sick. She was too worn out to be hungry.

"Where do you think we'll go, T?" She paused in her grass pulling to await his answer.

He shrugged, a deep frown set on his face. "I just don't know, Ames. But we'll be all right, we will."

Staring out past the lit campfire, she sighed heavily. Daryl seemed to be angrily moving all of his things away from the rest of them, and Carol's cries from her tent were echoing all around them. Amy couldn't help but silently disagree with T-Dog. She didn't think anything would ever be all right again.


End file.
